IT is time to start talking about Richard O’Brien. When Alcatraz burst through late on to win a 10-furlong handicap at the Curragh on Saturday, he was giving his Limerick-based trainer an 11th win of the season.

O’Brien currently lies eighth in the trainers’ table and if you placed a trusty tenner on each of his runners so far this year, you’d now have €220 in your back pocket. This suggests that, to a degree, O’Brien could still be a little underrated in the markets but, given his rate of progression, it is unlikely this will be the case for long.

Still working as a part-time dentist on Thursdays and Saturdays, O'Brien made a fair impression when he recorded 13 winners from 82 runners last calendar year. He is set to surge past that total this season, especially when you take into account the 11 wins he has recorded have come from just 52 runs, which translates to a 21% strike rate.

Of the trainers to have sent out 20 runners or more, O’Brien is second only to his illustrious namesake Aidan who is operating at a 23% win rate. It is also worth mentioning Paddy Twomey in this bracket, with the shrewd Tipperary handler having sent out his fourth winner from just 12 runners this year when Decrypt won nicely at the Curragh on Saturday.

O'Brien has done particularly well with two three-year-old fillies, Dianthus and Maymine, who both started their careers with the trainer. However it is the improvement he has eked out of the horses coming to his yard from other stables that best displays his talents. The below table shows the positive effect he has had on incoming stock.

Alan’s Pride was O’Brien’s first-ever runner and was previously trained by Michael Dods. He has won four times and finished second three times since coming under O’Brien’s care, and may not have finished improving, given he was raised 1lb for his latest effort at Leopardstown. Tom Dooley, who has now been moved on, also won four times for O’Brien last season while Beach Bar, Bianca Minola and Indian Tomahawk are other multiple winners.

Notably, Patrick finished a close third in the Rockingham. Azzuri, who joined recently from Dan Skelton’s yard, finished a promising second on his only run for O’Brien, and looks like a horse worth following. Context is needed in the case of Keep It Cool, now a 14-year-old who has only had two runs for his new trainer and has presumably been retired.

A lot of people talk about the importance of up-and-coming trainers gaining a breakthrough winner in a major race but this sort of consistent success is likely to be a more effective in attracting the attention of prospective owners.

Ger Lyons is perhaps the most progressive trainer in Ireland in recent years and part of his success has been a successful combination with owner David Spratt, in buying British cast-off horses and improving them to perform and progress in Ireland - the likes of Sea Wolf, Mawaany and Mustajeer come to mind.

O’Brien may be following a similar sort of path with the likes of Maths Prize, That Is The Spirit and Captain Cat all crossing the Irish Sea to join his ranks this season; the first two having already won for him.

O’Brien spent three years with David O’Meara, one of the best trainers in Yorkshire, and has adopted a similar sort of simplicity approach to training. He comes across as a man with his head tightly screwed on. Dentistry “keeps the wolf away from the door” and he will only go full-time training when he feels it is financially viable to do so. His own measure of that level is to have 40-50 horses in training. It would not be any surprise to see him hit that sort of number soon.